Tuition-fee support for an MA degree in music education

University College London’s MA in Music Education and the Universal Music UK Sound Foundation are delighted to announce a new bursary. This will provide 50% tuition-fee support to eligible students and additional funding for resources.

About the bursary

50% tuition-fee support will be offered to successful candidates who study on the MA in Music Education. For current fees and programme details, see the link below. The bursary will enable eligible students employed in a UK school or other music education context during their studies to undertake research-and-development as part of an individually-focussed MA dissertation. This work must impact positively on that educational context and align with one of the following themes:

• The wider benefits of music, such as music and literacy, music and mathematics, music and science, music and social inclusion
• The use of music technology in supporting musical learning
• Music, adolescence and mental health
• Addressing gender differences in musical participation, e.g., engaging boys in singing, encouraging girls to learn instruments commonly associated with males
• Effective practice in whole-class instrumental teaching, and sustaining learning beyond First Access/Wider Opportunities
• Music, wellbeing and mental health
• Engaging vulnerable and marginalised groups, or those less likely to participate in music, e.g. “looked-after” children, those from particular cultural groups (e.g. Muslim girls), recent immigrants, children and young people living in areas of high multiple deprivation (rural, suburban, inner city), pupil premium children
• Introducing new musical genres into classroom music

A further £5,000 will be available each year and act as a ring-fenced support fund for all the bursary recipients. Bursary recipients will be able to apply to this one-off £5,000 fund for additional financial support to help with resources for their practical work during the MA, e.g. music resources.

The UCL Institute of Education and its Music Education MA

Ranked number one for education worldwide each year from 2014 to 2019 in the QS World University Rankings, the UCL Institute of Education was awarded the 2015 Queen’s Anniversary Prize. In 2014, the Institute secured “outstanding” grades from Ofsted on every criterion for its initial teacher training, across primary, secondary and further education programmes. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework assessment, the Institute was top for “research power” in education. Its programmes are fuelled by cutting-edge research by world-leading academics. Founded in 1902, the Institute currently has more than 8,000 students and 800 staff working across a range of postgraduate programmes.

At the Institute, the Music Education MA introduces students to research and research-informed practice at the forefront of music education. The MA provides tools for interrogating musical and educational assumptions, values and practices. It helps students to expand their understanding of effective music teaching, evaluation and assessment across the lifespan. Graduates from the programme are currently working e.g. as music teachers in primary and secondary schools, instrumental teachers, Further Education lecturers, music education hub managers, arts, health and wellbeing therapists, university lecturers, musical performers and advocates for the arts. For more information on the MA, please see: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate/taught-degrees/music-education-ma

Universal Music UK Sound Foundation

Universal Music UK Sound Foundation is an independent music education charity established in 1997 to celebrate the centenary of EMI Records and to improve young peoples’ access to music education in the UK. Further information on the charity can be found at www.emimusicsoundfoundation.com

Further information and application forms

For further information about the Universal Music UK Sound Foundation Education Bursaries, or an application form, please contact Dr David Baker, Programme Leader, MA in Music Education, at david.baker@ucl.ac.uk